Russell Viers

Russell Viers

About

Russell has been doing this a long time. This year he celebrates 41 years as a professional in, and around, the publishing world. He also celebrates 25 years as a public speaker and trainer.

“When I started as a reporter/photographer we had typesetters and darkrooms,” Russell laments. “I don’t miss either.”

Russell started in the “desktop publishing” world with PageMaker in 1987 and has used all of the industry tools extensively since.

In addition to training, he is hired to work on projects that allow him to push the limits of the software so he gets to practice what he preaches. “I don’t show anything to an audience that I haven’t used on a real project,” Russell said. “It allows me to know the nuances of a feature…the things you don’t know until you really push it.”

You can catch Russell’s live stream, which he does with Julia Zieger, regularly on Behance.

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Speaking at these events

Archived
The InDesign Conference 2025
December 9–12 • An Online Event

This event is no longer able to be purchased. On-demand access ends December 12, 2026. The essential how-to event for creative professionals who rely on…

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Article
Interview with Russell Viers, Publishing Pro

Q&A with Russell Viers, who is presenting at the The InDesign + Long Documents Summit for CreativePro

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Article
Super-Long Document Techniques with InDesign

A collection of recommendations and techniques for creating super-long documents with InDesign

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Article
How to Link Text Between Two InDesign Documents

Find out how to link text in one InDesign document to a completely separate document, using conditional text and even an InCopy feature.

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Article
Transforming Type

You can make some nifty type effects with InDesign alone, but for unlimited creative freedom, you need the help of the “ultimate plug-in”: Adobe Illustrator.

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Article
Threading Text From One Document to Another

A 20-year quest is fulfilled with InDesign CS4 and a little ingenuity!

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Article
Swapping Color Swatches with Swatch Switcher

Just when you get a comfort level with InDesign, because it works so well, something jumps out and surprises you. Case in point: Switching color swatches. The project I was working on that brought this problem to light was a template that is built using a swatch palette of about 16 colors, all in the […]

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June 7–11, 2027

Phoenix, AZ (and online)